


Hospital For Souls

by tingles22



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: After the Lions fell from the sky, Helpful Lance (Voltron), Hospital, Hurt Keith (Voltron), M/M, Pining Shiro (Voltron), Post Season 7, Sick Fic, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 15:39:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15688395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tingles22/pseuds/tingles22
Summary: Shiro is standing at the helm of Atlas when he sees the explosion. The clear sky lights up with fire, anger, and everything in between. A blast kin to a nuclear bomb goes off in the upper atmosphere, but Shiro isn’t worried about any fallout. Only about what is falling.He wants to protect Keith from anything and everything. From every single blast, droid, or enemy. Shiro would gladly hold the world on his shoulders if it meant that Keith would not be laying on a stretcher, bloody and bruised.





	Hospital For Souls

**Author's Note:**

> title song: Hospital For Souls by Bring Me the Horizon

Shiro is standing at the helm of Atlas when he sees the explosion. The clear sky lights up with fire, anger, and everything in between. A blast kin to a nuclear bomb goes off in the upper atmosphere, but Shiro isn’t worried about any fallout. Only about what is falling.

The sky lights up in the colors black, red, green, blue, and yellow as the lions plummet back down to Earth. Shiro could do nothing but watch in shock.

The next few hours are a blur to him. He knows he shouted orders, and he knows that rescue teams are already on their way to each lion. He knows it will be okay, or at least he hopes. 

Shiro is suddenly standing outside of Atlas, not to sure how he got there, when Sam runs up to him. 

“Shiro,” Sam pants from running, “We are bringing in the lions, it doesn’t look so good. They’ve sustained a lot of damage from that blast.” Sam looks back towards the open hangar, almost willing the lions to him, “I hope Katie isn’t too badly hurt…”

Shiro’s mind immediately goes to Keith and Shiro is plagued with thoughts of his injuries.

Shiro stands and runs towards the hangar doors, “Sam, I’m going to go check on Keith. He needs me.”

Sam rushes along with Shiro, frantically trying to stop him, “The lions aren’t here yet, Shiro, and even if they were there is nothing you can do. I think it’s time for you to rest a bit, they’ll be fine.”

“No! How do you know that?” Anger turns Shiro’s vision red, “You and I both saw that explosion, I need to know that Keith - that the team - is okay.” His anger fades to worry, “Please, Sam, please.”

Shiro lets his posture fall, he needs to see Keith, and he needs to know if he is okay.

Sam stands, finally moving to the side, “I need to go tell Colleen. Shiro, please don’t do anything rash.”

The moment Sam leaves, Shiro rushes towards the Black Lion, frantically pushing people out of his way. “Please, I need to get through!” Shiro shouts as James Griffin enters his view. Shiro pays no mind to James as he continues to try and get through.

“Shiro, c’mon man you need to calm down,” James speaks slowly as he tries to stop Shiro from passing, “I can’t let you over there just yet. We are trying to open the ship up.” James pushed back against Shiro’s chest, “Seriously, let us take care of it.”

Shiro roughly shoves James to the side and sends a glare his way, “I need to see Keith. Now.” He resumes running towards the lion. The only important thing to Shiro in the moment was seeing Keith.

James takes off in a sprint to try and position himself between the lion and Shiro once more, but ultimately is thrown out the way by Shiro. “Shiro! Shiro! Stop!” James yells as he falls to the floor, helplessly watching as Shiro gets closer to the team bringing in the lion. 

Shiro processes more people trying to stop him from getting to Keith, so he uses his new prosthetic to clear a path for himself. Getting to Keith is at the forefront of his mind, anything else he can deal with later.

When he arrives at the Black Lion, it looks bad, really bad. Shiro holds his breath as he looks it over.

The fire from re-entering the lower atmosphere tore up the paint on the sides. Traveling through space had done a number on all the lions, but now the Black Lion looked mostly silver. The paws on the lion looked like a snapped wrists. All over, the lion looked broken.

If the lion looks this bad, Shiro worries what its passenger looks like. Shiro stands frozen for a few moments as images of Keith flew into his mind. 

Keith, laughing, at a joke Hunk told them on the Castleship.

Keith, smiling, as they raced on their hoverbikes.

Keith, crying, as he hugs his mother goodbye.

Thoughts of Keith surrounds Shiro, and he doesn’t mind at all. 

Suddenly a hand is on his shoulder and Shiro whips around fast, expecting Keith, but being greeted with James.

“Shiro, they’ve just opened the jaw, you really shouldn’t see him like this.” James gave Shiro a small smile, “Let’s go. We can wait for Keith over by Atlas.”

The anger Shiro felt earlier returns to him in a hot flash of flames, “No, I need to see him! Now.” 

Shiro runs right up to the jaw of the Black Lion, paying no mind to the men and women assessing the situation from the outside. He knows that the Black Lion won’t mind what he’s about to do.

The sound of scrapping metal hurts Shiro’s ears as he pulls apart the ruckage. Shiro throws layers and layers of metal sheets towards the other workers as he searches for the door to the cockpit. 

Shiro slices his remaining human hand on a partially sharp piece and lets out a grunt of discomfort, but continues on his search nonetheless.

“Captain,” Shiro turns fast and faces a small officer speaking to him, the title still foreign to his ears, “Your hand seems hurt, please allow us--”

“No!” Shiro cuts her off, “It’s fine. I can deal with this once I know he’s safe.” He turns back to frantically tearing through the metal. He can’t help thinking that his old galra arm would make the job much, much easier. 

After a few more pieces being moved out of his way, Shiro manages to find the doors to the cockpit. He wastes no time tearing them open whilst trying not to imagine the state Keith will be in. 

Shiro rushes into the cockpit and faces a scene he never wanted to ever see. 

Keith is laying half on his chair, half off. Blood runs down his face in crimson waves, soaking his hair to his forehead. His helmet stayed on his head during the crash, but now it has a large crack in it. The shards from his helmet pierces Keith’s face, dotting it with red. Keith’s armour appears to be shattered as well, with chunks of it being spread across the cockpit. Deep gashes are present on his torso, where he seems to have been thrown against the control panel. 

Shiro can do nothing but stare at him. He feels a deep ache in his heart looking at the state Keith is in, Shiro does not notice how other workers rush in with a stretcher. He only notices when they go to lift Keith that a noise comes from him.

“Hgh,” Keith lets out a small groan of discomfort. It’s music to Shiro’s ears. That noise means he is still alive. Alive, but in a lot of pain.

Shiro steps towards Keith, hearing his own heavy footsteps on the metal floor of the lion. “Keith, hang in there, okay? These people are going to get you out of here.” 

Keith doesn’t respond. 

Tears prickle at the edge of Shiro’s vision as he watched Keith get put on the stretcher. Keith looks so, so small. So very fragile. Shiro can’t help but be filled with affection for the smaller man. 

He wants to protect Keith from anything and everything. From every single blast, droid, or enemy. Shiro would gladly hold the world on his shoulders if it meant that Keith would not be laying on a stretcher, bloody and bruised. 

Workers are running Keith out of the lion, careful to avoid josling him anymore, and Shiro is running right along side of them. Shiro wants to be there every step of the way. He wants to be by his side during every moment of his recovery, and every moment after that. 

Shiro sticks close to the stretcher as it runs through the halls of the Garrison, making sure to keep his human hand on it at all times. He will not let Keith out of his sight, not until he knows that he is safe and recovering.

As he runs, Shiro notices empty stretchers running the other way. He assumes that this is for the other paladins and sends off a prayer to whomever is listening that they are all okay. He can’t lose any of them. Not now and not ever. His team means the world to him and he can’t fathom the universe without them. 

Just as they turn another bend, the woman pushing Keith’s stretcher calls out to him. “Shiro, I’m afraid you can’t go any further with us,” She gives Shiro a sympathetic look. “We need to get the Black Paladin into a sterile environment to begin to operate.”

Shiro looks at himself in the reflection of a window they run by. Yeah, he is anything but sterile. The last thing he would want to do is hurt Keith more. He lets out a sigh and speaks.

“Please let me know the moment I can see him. I need to know that he’s alright,” Shiro frowns as he speaks, not wanting to leave Keith’s side.

“Sure thing, Captain,” The woman salutes him, and picks of the speed as she rushes Keith through a set of swinging doors.

Shiro is left alone in the halls, his only company being his thoughts of Keith.

— — —

Hours pass until Shiro hears anything about Keith. His hand was patched up, but even that seemed like wasted time to him. He’s seen the other paladins pass through the same doors, but none of them look half as badly injured as Keith. Shiro finds out from passerbyers that the head of Voltron was closest to the blast and fell the hardest. 

Of course, Keith can never do anything half-assed. 

Worry swims through Shiro’s mind as he waits and waits to hear news of the paladins. 

His mind wanders to Keith, and the presence of Keith in his life. He thinks about how Keith is constantly by his side, no matter where they are. Keith is Shiro’s shadow, always watching him and always following him. It almost makes Shiro laugh when he thinks that Keith even managed to follow him into the vast unknown of space. 

As he thinks about how much Keith means to him, it hits him. Keith is his world. Keith is his sun, the center of his solar system. Everything Shiro is and everything he ever will be revolves around him. Even if he were in the far reaches of the Kuiper Belt, he would always come back home to Keith. 

As much as Keith follows Shiro, Shiro follows Keith just as much. Every moment Shiro spends not by Keith’s side feels empty. He wishes he could soak up all the heat and energy and warmth from Keith all day long.

But night comes. And night is no stranger to Shiro.

In deep space, light from the stars don’t always reach. Much like how the light from his sun isn’t always able to reach him.

Just as Shiro was getting dangerously close to an existential breakdown, although a very justified one, the doors opened.

Instead of Keith, Pidge makes her way through the doors still unconscious and on a stretcher, but looking well. Relief spreads through Shiro as he looks her over. If she is fine, there’s hope for Keith.

Footsteps echoing down the hallway grab Shiro’s attention and he sees Sam and Colleen run towards their daughter. 

“Oh my, I’m so glad she’s alright,” Colleen speaks slowly as she grabs Pidge’s hand. “Katie...what have you gotten yourself into,” She breaks off with a small laugh, “Matt will have your head when he learns you got hurt.”

Shiro watches in envy as Sam, Colleen, and the still sleeping Pidge are led down the hall towards the ICU rooms. 

The other paladins slowly trickle out the doors, each unconscious, but greeted wholeheartedly with hugs and admiration from their families. Shiro is pleased to see that Garrison made quick work of finding Hunk’s parents. He knows it would make Keith happy to see Hunk happy, as he worked hard to try and convince the Garrison to find them earlier on Hunk’s behalf. 

While Shiro slowly begins to fall asleep, the events of the day finally catching up to him, the doors seemingly burst open, causing Shiro to snap awake. Keith finally came through the cold, metal doors. 

Shiro can’t help thinking that Keith looks even smaller bundled underneath the sheets of his bed. He looks peaceful like he hasn’t slept a full night in months, which unfortunately might be true. Every time they would try and rest on their trip back to Earth, it seemed the paladins would run into an issue that Keith would swear to solve. 

Keith looks even thinner than when Shiro first met him. It’s true Keith was underfed at the home he was placed in, but he had grown a lot since then. The boy Shiro once knew has grown into the unapologetically loyal man he knows today. 

Shiro’s train of thought is interrupted when the woman from before speaks, “Captain Shirogane, will you be accompanying Keith to his room? Or does he have family on the way?”

“Ah, no,” Shiro swallows before continuing, “I’m his only family on Earth at the moment.”

She gives Shiro a sad smile, and they continue down the hall. 

As they walk, Shiro reaches out and places his hand on Keith’s head, as if he were protecting him. 

— — —

After a few hours of sitting by Keith’s bedside, Shiro is whisked away to perform certain ‘captain duties’ that Sam claims is ‘very important’.

The news of Earth’s emancipation from the Galra spreads across the universe like rapid fire. Parades and parties celebrate Voltron’s triumphant return in all corners of the universe. 

It’s Shiro’s idea to make Earth a hub for the coalition, and Sam and Iverson agree immediately. While rebuilding efforts begin, Shiro knows he has a few people to contact.

Krolia and Kolivan receive messages first, and Shiro sees to it. He knows that Keith will be overjoyed when he sees them.

— — —

Days go by, and the doctors slowly bring the paladins out of their induced comas. Lance and Pidge are the first to awake, their lions being the lightest with the least impact on the surface of Earth.

While visiting Lance, Shiro is pulled into a bone crushing hug by Lance’s mother. “You are my little boy’s hero!” She exclaims while squeezing him, “You inspired him and you kept him safe. I cannot thank you enough!”

“Mom! C’mon, don’t embarrass me in front of Shiro!” Lance shrieks out. All Shiro can do is laugh.

After receiving all introductions to Lance’s family, just Lance and Shiro are left in the room. That’s when Lance’s eyes turn glossy. 

“Hey, Shiro,” Lance starts slowly, “Why hasn’t Allura woken up yet? The nurses won’t tell me anything.” He slumps back with a look of dissatisfaction. 

Shiro gives Lance a sad smile, “She, Hunk, and Keith fly the heavier lions. They hit the ground a bit harder than you and Pidge, so the docs want to make sure they are mostly healed before they wake them up.” 

Lance nods as he settles back into his pillows. “I just--I just really care about her. About all of them! Trust me! I just want them to be okay.” He wipes at his eyes, trying not to cry.

Shiro feels sympathetic towards Lance. He feels the exact same about Keith as Lance does to Allura. Wait…

“Lance,” Shiro speaks fast suddenly, the importance of his realization laying heavy on him, “You love Allura, right?”

“Urm, yeah. Yeah, I really do. What does this have to do with anything?” Lance lifts one eyebrow and turns towards Shiro, his face full of confusion.

“I love him.”

“Who? Keith? I thought you two confessed a long time ago. Wow, I can’t believe you’re just realizing this,” Lance lets out a small laugh, “Figures it takes Keith almost dying for you to come to terms with your feelings.”

Shiro has no time to waste as he stands suddenly. “Thank you so much, Lance. I hate to cut this short but I’ve got to go.”

Lance laughs again. “Alright there, Captain,” He mock salutes, “Have fun speaking to an unconscious guy!”

Shiro can’t help but smile as he leaves the room.

— — —

Krolia and Kolivan arrive at the Garrison base within next few days. It takes Kosmo even less time to teleport them into Keith’s room, which perfectly terrifies Shiro.

“Oh!” Kolivan says, not too much louder than his normal tone, “That wolf sure is capable.” Figures he stays calm even when startled.

Krolia laughs and scratches Kosmo behind his ears. She then turns to look at Shiro, “Sorry for startling you, Kosmo here gets overzealous when it comes to Keith, but you understand that, don’t you?”

A mother always knows, Shiro thinks. Krolia glances at him with a certain look in her eyes that he’s never seen before. He draws the conclusion that Krolia may have been across the universe, but she definitely knows what he confessed to Lance.

“Yes, I sure do,” Shiro laughs while rubbing his neck, “Keith here is awfully stubborn. The doctors took all of them out of their comas, but Keith is the only one that hasn’t woken up yet. I can send a doctor in here to explain more to you if you’d like.”

Krolia walks across the room to Shiro, placing her hand on his shoulder in a Keith-like fashion. “That would be wonderful. Now, Sam mentioned something about a speech you’re giving soon. He told me that you better hurry along so that you aren’t too late.” She gives him a pointed look. “I guarantee Keith will still be here once you’re done.”

Shiro laughs uncomfortably once more, “Yep, I’ll be going right along.” 

As he walks out, Shiro makes sure to give Keith’s hand a squeeze. “I’ll be back,” Shiro whispers, “Don’t be causing any trouble while I’m gone.” Shiro turns away and walks through the door, off to speak about friendship, loss, and love.

— — —

The moment Shiro steps down from the podium, he rushes back to Keith’s room. The message that the pilot of the Black Lion has finally woken up spread like wildfire.

Shiro throws open the door to Keith’s room and is greeted with the best sight he’s ever seen: Keith, sitting up, a little dazed looking but overall doing alright. Keith gives Shiro a dopey smile, and everything seems alright. 

“Shiro--” Keith starts, but Shiro doesn’t let him finish.

“Keith, I love you. I love you so, so much and I swear if you scare me again I--well I don’t know what I’d do. I love you and never want to see you hurt like that ever again,” Shiro blurts out all in one breath.

Kolivan sits perched, with a look of shock on his face. Krolia just smiles, like she knew what was coming. “Well, Kolivan, I think Sam needs to see us about...those galra questions he had.”

“Uh, what questions?” Kolivan rubs his chin in confusion.

“You know, the ones about the galra.” Krolia quickly grabs Kolivan by his tunic and drags him out, not before giving Shiro and Keith a hearty wave.

Shiro looks away from where Krolia was standing, and turns to Keith.

“Sorry, that was a lot, it’s okay if you don’t feel the same but--” Shiro starts sheepishly.

“No! No, Shiro. I love you, too. I’ve loved you for so long. I could feel you by my side every night and every day that I was unconscious. I could also hear your scared ramblings. I love you a lot, a lot more than I could ever express to you.” Keith smiles at Shiro. He smiles a big, blinding smile. “Now, I know I’ve only been up for a handful of minutes, but I think these pain meds are kicking in.” Keith shifts over and pats the space next to him, “I also know that you’ve been running yourself ragged this week, come over and lay down.”

Shiro smiles at Keith, feeling overwhelmed with affection. “I love you.”

“I know, Takashi, now get over here and sleep.”

Shiro takes no time climbing into the bed with Keith, careful not to disturb any of his injuries. Shiro settles down next to Keith, and feels the most content he’s been in a long time.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I’m Tingles! Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Feel free to scream with me about voltron on twitter and tumblr @tingles22
> 
> Thanks for reading!!!


End file.
